Insight
by emberin
Summary: Tellius, post-PoR. It may have been the skill of the Hawk King's eyes, but it didn't mean that others couldn't use it on him. Oscar, Janaff-centric.


Insight

DISCLAIMER: Fire Emblem and its characters belong to Nintendo and Intelligent Systems.

* * *

It was easy to tell when the birds of Phoenicis were coming.

He didn't have very keen eyesight, but Oscar could tell that the descending winged creatures he spotted in the sky were none other than King Tibarn and his two aides, Ulki and Janaff. They had stopped by each time Phoenicis came to Crimea to discuss diplomatic matters, and each time, Oscar had been interrogated, spoon-fed and tucked into bed by the Hawk King's eyes.

The knight was convinced that Janaff was getting one good laugh out of it.

Desperately, Oscar had tried to find some way to oppose 'Unkie Janny' and his antics. How could he beat Janaff at his own game? Logical explanations were completely out of the question; he had tried those ages ago and none of them would shake the hawk.

Oscar was completely and utterly convinced that Janaff was still trying to get back at him for calling him a kid. Maybe, he thought, this was his way of saying that he didn't need such childish treatment, and therefore he couldn't be a child. Or maybe he just wanted to bug him.

Maybe he would help Mist out in the kitchen tonight. Anything to keep away from –

"Little Oscar! How are you doing? No scary nightmares lately? Oh dear, you're still squinting. Then again, it's only been half a year…"

"Eep!"

Oh no. He was too late. Oscar braced himself for Janaff's onslaught.

"How've you been with the mercenaries? They're not making you do any hard missions, are they?" Almost like a mother, Janaff crossed his arms over his chest. "Come on, you can tell Unkie Janny." Oscar started to contemplate how to answer him, when the hawk went right on ahead. His silence was probably taken as defiance.

"Entering your rebellious stage, huh?" Janaff scoffed. "I'll make sure I find out from Ike, then. He'll tell me if anything's wrong with you. Titania too."

As he watched his 'uncle' stride away, Oscar wondered when he should tell Janaff that Ike was actually younger than him. He sighed. Honestly, one would have thought that someone would have talked some sense into him.

Behind him, the knight heard someone giggling. It was Mist.

"U-Unkie Janny?" she managed to get out. "Are you calling him that, Oscar?"

"… no way," he answered as flatly as possible. "Don't even ask." His reaction only seemed to amuse Mist even more. "By the way, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, I was going to ask you for help in the kitchen, but I can't let you get hurt or Unkie Janny -" Mist giggled for a few seconds, then continued, "will get angry at me, wouldn't he?"

Great, Oscar thought. Now he had a girl who was at least ten years younger than him laughing at him. He really wasn't sure how much lower he could get.

"Well, we've got three hawks to feed and Ike seems really hungry tonight, so let's get started on dinner, okay?" Oscar finally said. It was true; Ike did tend to eat more when laguz were around. Meat-lovers. Good thing he had sent Boyd and Rolf out hunting.

Once he and Mist had reached the kitchen, Oscar tried to get rid of any dreadful thoughts of Janaff by busying himself with preparing spices and salads. Finally quiet, Mist began to heat some water for soup. After a little while, Titania entered to lend a hand. Together the three of them churned out dish after dish.

It was a tranquil atmosphere, thank the goddess. The only sounds were the boiling of water and the chopping of knives.

If only it stayed that quiet.

"Little Oscar!"

It was none other than Janaff who flung open the kitchen door, proceeding to snatch the knife Oscar was using out of his hand, in a dramatic fashion. Mist dissolved into giggles once more; even Titania's mouth turned up at the corners.

"How could they make you work in a place so dangerous like the kitchen?" the hawk gasped. "What if you burn yourself? Or chop off a finger by mistake?"

"This isn't nearly as bad as a battlefield, and I've been there and out in one piece. A kitchen is nothing." Oscar sighed. The attempt was probably futile. He looked at Titania, silently sending a message of 'Help me!'

"But you, a knight, should not die from any reason other than old age or battlefield wounds! I still don't understand why they make young'uns like you fight." With that, Janaff grabbed the helpless knight by the arm and proceeded to drag him out of the kitchen, despite Oscar's insistence that cooking was a survival skill and should be practised.

Dinner itself turned out to be no better.

Even though he had precariously removed any sort of eating utensil from his vicinity, Oscar still found Janaff removing the bones from his meat or blowing on his soup to cool it down. His discomfort didn't go unnoticed; across from him, he noticed his brothers laughing their heads off and Ulki giving him what appeared to be a very contrived attempt at pity.

Darn them.

At the end of the table, Ike, Tibarn and Gatrie were engaged in a food-eating contest, with Mia energetically giving commentary nearby to an apathetic Shinon. Mist and Rhys had been forced to stand by in case any of them threw up. The only people who seemed to be having a decent conversation were Titania and Soren.

Stupid Oscar, he thought to himself. He should have tried to find some excuse to talk to them, or even better, Shinon. Janaff seemed to have something against the sniper, although Oscar was pretty sure the feeling was mutual.

"All right, time for bed!"

No one got up to help poor Oscar as he was dragged out of the mess hall. The knight himself didn't bother to resist, though he wished he did when the room behind him burst into laughter.

Desperate times called for desperate measures, Oscar decided, but what could he do? He thought of various ideas, but each one got increasingly crazier than Kieran's stories.

Wait, Kieran. Crimean Royal Knights. Melior. The inn… this might be it.

Oscar always heard the most interesting tidbits when he visited the capital city, especially when he ran into former comrades. Recently, he had bumped into Marcia at Calill's inn, and she had found out something very interesting to share…

Time to turn up the kid level. Just enough to avoid embarrassment.

Janaff led him to his room – he had done it enough times to remember – and watched as Oscar clambered into bed. The green-haired knight sat up against the bedpost, as though anticipating something. If the hawk was surprised by Oscar's sudden compliance, he said nothing about it.

"Do you want a bedtime story?" Janaff asked.

Oscar decided to indulge Janaff for once. This is how the plan would work.

"… Uncle Janaff," he began, not quite willing to say 'Unkie Janny'. "How about I tell you a story tonight?" Janaff nodded, but slowly, like he was wary of what came next. Inwardly, Oscar smirked.

"Once upon a time, there was a… a bird-man," he decided. "This bird-man served a very powerful bird Ki-uh, emperor and was his trusted envoy, one of two, and he could see very, very far away."

"What was this… bird-man's name?"

"Uh, I don't know… but anyways," Oscar managed to avoid the question, "the emperor was working to establish ties with another country after a long, hard war and he sent our, uh, hero out. So he would fly to the other country every so often to talk with this other country's queen." Oscar watched Janaff's eyes narrow. "Is something wrong, Uncle Janaff?"

It had turned into a battle of sorts between the two of them, to see who broke the play-acting first.

"No, little Oscar. Keep going…"

"Now, this bird-man often met one of the queen's advisors," Oscar said. This was where things got tricky. "He had first met this advisor when the two countries had joined forces during the war, and she was pretty and smart. Gradually, the two got to know each other, as they met up whenever he came to visit, and they fell in love."

"W-what happened to them?" Janaff said, after a long pause.

"See, Uncle Janaff, this is where it gets complicated." Oscar put on one of his best frowns. "The bird-man was what they called a… a zugal, and the queen's advisor was a-a croeb. And people didn't like seeing them together."

"That… that's not fair," the hawk commented, like he was trying to follow the story though he knew what came next.

Oscar decided to throw him for a loop.

"But the story has a happy ending, Uncle Janaff!" Oscar exclaimed. "The two of them didn't care what other people thought of them, and they lived happily ever after together in a far away land." It was… child-like enough.

"So, Uncle Janaff, I think this teaches a valuable lesson _to us all_, doesn't it?" The hawk's mouth moved, but no sound came out.

"Where did you hear that story?" he finally said.

"It's only a bit of insight, Uncle Janaff." Oscar grinned. This is when Janaff would stop teasing him and apologize…

"… I guess you weren't kidding when you said you were smart for your age, huh?" Janaff patted Oscar's head. "Tell me another story next time, how about that?" He got up and left, closing the door quietly behind him.

Drat, Oscar thought. Janaff just turned everything on him!

But he had gotten through somewhat. This battle may have been over, but the war was just starting. Next time the hawk came, Oscar would be prepared.

Note to self: Marcia only takes two drinks to start dishing out the goods. Boy, did that girl love to blab…

* * *

I liked the idea of this, but it turned out kind of awkward at the end.

-EmbeRin


End file.
